San Francisco - Activities -

 • Take one of the many San Francisco harbor tours and admire the views from the bay or visit historic Tiburon, best when the weather is clear.
 • Ride a San Francisco Cable Car, or take the F-train, an electric street car running from Fishermen's Wharf along the Embarcadero, down Market street, up to The Castro.
 • Critical Mass. On the last Friday of each month, bicyclists (in San Francisco, and about 200 like-minded cities world-wide.) gather at the north end of Market Street on the Embarcadero and ride en masse to some destination, militantly demonstrating their right to occupy the roads. If you are driving in SF on a Critical Mass day, you will want to listen for radio traffic reports, but if you are stopped by the mass the best thing to do is maintain a good sense of humor and remember that it will all pass in about 5 minutes. Tempers can and do flare...
 • Guided Segway Tours - San Francisco or Sausalito . New three hour guided tours on a Segway. Departures daily. See the San Francisco Waterfront, Marina Green, Fort Mason and more. Includes 35-45 minutes of training and 2 - 2 1/2 hours of sightseeing. Small group make this ideal for individuals and families. Reservations required. Tours are now also offered in Sausalito.
 • Go to a concert, a play, a Jazz or a folk-song performance. There are performances most days to choose from, as by the San Francisco Opera, the San Francisco Symphony, in Herbst Theater (where the U.N. charter was signed), in the Old First Church, and for musicals in the Orpheum or the Golden Gate Theaters, all located in or near the Civic Center. The museum of the Legion of Honor, located in Lincoln Park overlooking the Golden Gate (North end of 34th Ave.), has organ concerts which can be heard in many of its galleries, Saturdays and Sundays at 4:00 pm, as well as music performances in its Florence Gould Theater, as by the San Francisco Lyric Opera  . For outrageous fun princes and paupers go to Beach Blanket Babylon in North Beach. Teenagers are welcome at the Sunday Matinees. It considers itself the longest running musical revue in theater history.

 • Plays are performed at the Geary (by the American Conservatory Theater  ), Curran, and the Marines Memorial theatres  ; those are near Union Square, and at the three small New Conservatory theaters in the Civic Center. See the Unauthorized Rolling Stones, a San Francisco Institution play, or local musical genius Rudy Colombini play in one of the local clubs. San Francisco also has many Jazz Clubs, best found by browsing the web, as  . Contemporary bands are featured at The Fillmore auditorium and less frequently at the large Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in the Civic Center. There is an annual blues festival in late September, at various locations  . Many, but certainly not all, and no free events are listed by the City Box Office  . There are at least two great free bluegrass music festivals each year - during February on the Marina and late September or October in Golden Gate Park.

 • Golden Gate Park. Walking or bicycling in Golden Gate Park gets you out of the busy street scenes. There are often fun events as well  . At 1,017 Acres, it is 174 acres larger than New York's Central Park, so unless you rent a bike, you'll want to plan which area you want to visit, especially along the East (Stanyan street) to West (the Ocean) axis. During the summer to October a free shuttle bus circulates. On Sundays only bicycles are allowed on most park roads. The number 5 bus runs along its North boundary, and the N streetcar two blocks south of its South boundary. The Conservatory of Flowers is at 2nd Avenue (4 small blocks West of Stanyan). To the South, are tennis Courts, a children's playground and its Carousel, and playing fields for Frisbee. At 8th Avenue is the Shakespeare Garden with roses and other flowers mentioned in his plays. The de Young Museum has recently reopened (see "Hide in a Museum"), although the Aquarium and Planetarium of the California Academy of Sciences, and the Music Concourse at 10th Avenue are currently being completely rebuilt. West of the de Young it is the Japanese Tea Garden at 12th Avenue, and South (at 9th Avenue) is the Strybing Arboretum. Boating on Stow Lake is at 18th Avenue. The Marx and Speedway meadows for picnicking and music festivals are near 30th. Ave. Horse riding, around the Polo field is available at 34th Avenue (currently - 2005 - closed to the public), model boating is at 35th Ave., fly-casting at 36th Avenue, and a Petanque bowling field is at 38th Ave. At 38th Avenue is also the Bison Meadow, where buffaloes roam. Golf and Archery is played at 47th Avenue. Finally, beyond 48th Avenue are the Dutch windmills that were used for Park irrigation in the past and the Beach Chalet for lunch, drinks, or dinner overlooking the Pacific Ocean and admiring brave surfers.

 • Hide in a Museum. When the morning is a foggy, you may want to visit a museum. Golden Gate Park has the most famous museum, the M.H. de Young Museum, rebuilt and reopened in 2005. Its Asian collection is now permanently housed in the Asian Art Museum, located in the Civic Center. The Legion of Honor Museum is in Lincoln Park, at the Western end of El Camino del Mar Avenue, in the North-west corner of the Outer Richmond district. The #18 bus route, always near the Pacific Coast, ends there as well. The new Museum of Modern Art is located downtown near the Moscone Center, across market from Union Square at Mission and Third Streets, on the Muni #30 bus and many other routes.

 • For old and young kids the free Marine History Museum, by the Municipal pier at the North end of van Ness Avenue and Columbus street, just west of Fisherman's wharf, is a fun place. Walking to the end of the Municipal Pier gets you close to Alcatraz, and you can see both the Golden Gate and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridges. You can go on board of several historical ships, including the 1886 Balclutha clipper ship, a walking-beam ferry, a steam tug, and a coastal schooner, at the Hyde-street Pier nearby. Over a hundred smaller vessels are also exhibited there  . Once a year a trip up to the Sacramento river delta is organized. At pier 45, to the east of Fishermen's wharf, the World War II submarine USS Pampanito can be visited. The Exploratorium will keep you busy for an entire day with their Science and Perception exhibits. The Exploratorium is located in what was the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition at Lyon and Bay streets, near the terminus of the frequent #30 Muni bus from Fisherman's wharf (Columbus and Northpoint), downtown, and the CalTrain station. In the Presidio, a few blocks the north and west, you can visit the gardens of the new Lucas Film studios.

Adapted from WikiTravel under the Wiki License


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